title: Instrumentation of broadband frequency domain thermoreflectance for measuring thermal conductivity accumulation functions.
abstract: This paper describes the instrumentation for broadband frequency domain thermoreflectance (BB-FDTR), a novel, continuous wave laser technique for measuring the thermal conductivity accumulation function. The thermal conductivity accumulation function describes cumulative contributions to the bulk thermal conductivity of a material from energy carriers with different mean free paths. It can be used to map reductions in thermal conductivity in nano-devices, which arise when the dimensions of the device are commensurate to the mean free path of energy carriers. BB-FDTR uses high frequency surface temperature modulation to generate non-diffusive phonon transport realized through a reduction in the perceived thermal conductivity. By controlling the modulation frequency it is possible to reconstruct the thermal conductivity accumulation function. A unique heterodyning technique is used to down-convert the signal, therein improving our signal to noise ratio and enabling results over a broader range of modulation frequencies (200 kHz-200 MHz) and hence mean free paths.
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15213, USA.
authors.forename: K T
authors.initials: KT
authors.lastname: Regner
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Majumdar
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Malen